If we are taking up our cross to follow Jesus then we already know we will face hardships, challenges even ridicule for His namesake. We also know that our merciful Lord and Saviour; Lord God of the universe, will never abandon us. So when we are cursed we shall answer with a blessing.
Not an easy feat for it takes humility of love and service of Jesus our Master. In living fully in His grace we can overcome every and anything.
Let us pray as we sing with all our hearts…..
Humbly we adore Thee, Christ Redeemer King, Thou art Lord of Heaven, Thou to whom we sing. God, the mighty, thou hast come, Bearing gifts of grace; Son of Adam, still thou art, Saviour of our race.
Amen
Saint Gregory Pray for us…
First reading
1 Corinthians 4:6-15 ·
What do you have that was not given to you?
Take Apollos and myself as an example and remember the maxim: ‘Keep to what is written.’ It is not for you, so full of your own importance, to go taking sides for one man against another. In any case, brother, has anybody given you some special right? What do you have that was not given to you? And if it was given, how can you boast as though it were not? Is it that you have everything you want – that you are rich already, in possession of your kingdom, with us left outside? Indeed I wish you were really kings, and we could be kings with you! But instead, it seems to me, God has put us apostles at the end of his parade, with the men sentenced to death; it is true – we have been put on show in front of the whole universe, angels as well as men. Here we are, fools for the sake of Christ, while you are the learned men in Christ; we have no power, but you are influential; you are celebrities, we are nobodies. To this day, we go without food and drink and clothes; we are beaten and have no homes; we work for our living with our own hands. When we are cursed, we answer with a blessing; when we are hounded, we put up with it; we are insulted and we answer politely. We are treated as the offal of the world, still to this day, the scum of the earth.
I am saying all this not just to make you ashamed but to bring you, as my dearest children, to your senses. You might have thousands of guardians in Christ, but not more than one father and it was I who begot you in Christ Jesus by preaching the Good News.
Gospel
Luke 6:1-5
The Son of Man is master of the sabbath
One sabbath Jesus happened to be taking a walk through the cornfields, and his disciples were picking ears of corn, rubbing them in their hands and eating them. Some of the Pharisees said, ‘Why are you doing something that is forbidden on the sabbath day?’ Jesus answered them, ‘So you have not read what David did when he and his followers were hungry how he went into the house of God, took the loaves of offering and ate them and gave them to his followers, loaves which only the priests are allowed to eat?’ And he said to them, ‘The Son of Man is master of the sabbath.’
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